How to Grocery Shop

Yeah, yeah, I know I’m not the only one out there that works a really crazy schedule and runs a home, but at times I just want to scream, “STOPPPPPP!” In a nutshell: I work a stupid job that enables them to abuse me (eg. Work 2 years on shift- that’s 12 hour shifts alternating 3 days off, 3 days on-rotating days to nights while having two separate buns in the oven, over 18 months of this time, and then get put on days, working 8 days straight with two off, two on, and then two off again.)

Now you ask, “Why do you do this??”

The answer is, I want my children to have everything. Not spoiled rotten -everything; but a strong family, health, and opportunities. (And now some of you may start the, “stay at home” spiel. But I’ve tried-before kids, between jobs, and moving, - I can’t bare it!)

With working all the time and then trying to do everything else like workout, shop, garden, bring the kids everywhere they want to go, laundry, watch a little T.V besides nick, and cook something good for dinner, there’s not much time.

At the beginning of the year I was feeling at my all time low about all this. So, one of my best friends got me a crock pot and book of recipes as a Christmas Gift (Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Slow Cooker Recipes 2 by Sandra Lee) Man, how neglected was I? I had never used a crock pot! Throw stuff in it after work, stay up late and turn it off, dinner is ready for tomorrow night.

This worked well until the warm, Virginia Spring set in and I just had to get back to grilling (which is pretty speedy too!). I was also getting spring fever for fresh vegetables and such. I’m sure I’ll take it out when it starts cooling down again.

Well, back in early fall, the next step to my, “put it in the crock and walk away from the kitchen”, was to get grocery shopping out of the way each week FASTER!

So I set-up:
Day to plan out next weeks meals- Thursday
Day to write down grocery list- Thursday
Day to shop-Friday, after work and before picking up the girls

Then I started looking at my time. I’d race out of work on Friday afternoon, zoom to the store with the list I made Thursday night in hand, and set the stopwatch on my watch.

Self said, “20 Julia, twenty minutes is all you get, to get everything in the cart!!”

I can’t really control the checkout people and insist to never get into shopping line rage, this is a little chill time to check out the mags for free-for me time!

Also in this plan I tried the regular size cart. It didn’t take corners so well and I’d feel my wrist hurting later on, then I decided on the little blue ones that are more upright (ever seen those?) Well, these are great in the store on a smoothly, polished floor, I could fit everything in, but it was on my way outside that injury occurred.

Oh I had scored! The store had a bunch of slightly frosted, nipped by the cooler roses for the upcoming Mother’s Day Weekend. They had decided not to sell them, so they were giving them away for FREE! So I put them in the little blue cart and went at a fast walk to my car.(I should tell you here that my master plan is to get all the groceries for the week, not to come back to the store until next week, and to get in the store and out of the store in 30 minutes. So yeah, I secretly am giving the checkout people 10 minutes to get their job done.)

As I was walking at a fast pace this very, poorly, designed, blue cart put on the breaks! I kept walking and I flew over the handle bars!!! Yes!!! Over the handle bars of a little, blue shopping cart! My favorite word spilled out (F FEN…) with a small tear in my eye, a snag in the knee of my jeans, and a scraped palm, and the ROSES!!!, my beautiful FREE ROSES….. there were light, purple petals, everywhere! (That was the worst part)

I should have walked myself back in that store and threatened! But I’m not that type. There was the cart collector man and I sweetly explain what had just happened. He was a prick! He acted like he hadn’t even seen the whole thing!

So I said, “Don’t you see those petals over there? It ruined my roses!”

He just gave my some line about the locks shopping carts have on them so homeless can’t run off with them.

So since that incident I stopped running (No I was walking!!) while grocery shopping, and set my goal back to just getting the shopping done on Friday night. I also make a detailed grocery list on Thursday to keep from over buying, not knowing what to make, and to plan good meals.

Details in later posts on shopping list and meal plans.

Later, Julia